Just A Little Bit Crazy

essay beginning i wrote at work with reference to painting

2010-09-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

I shall seek to determine, of perhaps, muse on the real reason as to why many people play video games.
For many years, many have enjoyed sliding a block up-and-down the screen blocking and deflecting a small ball and bouncing it back and forth, guiding a yellow monster through a maze all the while avoiding colourful ghosts ready to steal away lives, or even trying the save a princess from a large dinosaur while jumping on top of toothy little monsters and turtles. Each of these games represent different eras of games, and likewise, different generations of gamers, all who strive for that ultimate goal or legendary score.
But why is it that we, as gamers, play games. I’m not here to determine the superficial reasons, such as perhaps the joy of entertainment, reasons of escapism or the sociological benefits from multiplayer games. Games have been described as being mediums of entertainment amongst family, friends and, in modern gaming, strangers via the massive competitive multiplayer arenas; but what I strive to determine is the pure psychological reasons in any single gamer.
While it’s true that games provide a great sense of escapism and can even be a great method for relaxing after a day of arduous tasks, but perhaps there is a reason much more sinister.
It is also true that most people in these modern times are subjected to many demands in life, from work, family, friends and even strangers.

The Lament for Icarus by Herbert Draper

something i wrote at work

2010-09-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

If the circumstances of the next few days could have warned me, I would have never come here, but seeing as how any prophetic ability isn’t among the strange occurrences that should eventually occur, I remained ignorant to any future danger. Heck, if I had of known where the agency was sending me, I wouldn’t have come anyways, but unfortunately, when a small seaside town appears on the map, it needs to be explored, and glorified by my own eyes and pen.
Arriving in the small town mere seconds ago, the first thing that struck me was the decrepit state the place was in; a ghost town straight out of some fictional post-apocalyptic imagining; aside from a few cats, the streets remained soulless. The building were arranged unevenly, as if they had been stacked like children’s playthings, each appeared empty, with doors and window curtains pull shut. All of these details I quickly jotted into my notebook.
4 stars.
I passed a great number of these building; a supermarket, a bookshop, antique shop, fishing bait and tackle shop, hardware shop, and finally, my destination, a seemingly small, archaic building marked ‘motel’. I pulled into the driveway, an empty driveway\

Short story addition...

2010-05-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

You step inside the shack, greeted by a wealth of new sensations: the warmth hits your chilled face, the smell of food cooking that sends your tastebuds raging with desire: the crackle of an open fire catches you attention. You stand in the doorway almost paralysed. You look to your left and you see a small kitchen, an old-time fire stove in one corner, a bubbling pot on top. In the center of the kitchen is a small bench top, a knife lies idly amongst an assortment of recently cut fresh vegetables. The smell of food grows stronger in that direction, so you dare not go closer. You glance to the left, the direction of the warmth: here is where the lounge is, against the far wall you see the fire place, flickering gently. Near to the fire place is an empty child's cot, a striped dark tie hanging off it. Alongside it was a table littered with an assortment of stuff - a big enamal mug, a tin of Johnson's Baby Powder, a sugar bowl, several toys, a pair of glasses and a wooden fruit bowl. Two small wooden chairs sit near the table.
Everything here is perfect, so perfect that you dont even begin to question why you are here: the only thing stuck in your mind is the illogical absence of a soul, why no one is around.
Still standing in the doorway, you decide to step inside and close the door behind you. Directly in front of you is a small hallway: against your better judgement, you decide to investigate further. Shaking your boots free of snow, you step onto the wooden floorboards and into the hall. Here there are two small rooms, again, one to the left, and one to the right.

... To be continued.

Short story segment... 8/4/10

2010-05-08T05:18:00.000-07:00

You open your eyes, however you immediately shut them again as you are blinded by the whiteness around you. Slowly, as your eyes grow uccustomed to the light, you begin to realise where you are: you see snow all around you, black silhouettes dancing against the white backdrop: they are trees. You are in a forest, it is winter, but not cold. You inhale, the air is fresh,but you can smell something faint in the air... it's a smell you remember, the smokey smell of food roasting on a fire. You start to tredge through the snow. /crunch/ /crunch/ Your senses are working overtime, picking up on every sound and smell that's carried through the air.
Sudden, you step out of a clearing, onto harder ground, where the the snow makes a dimmer crunch: it is a path, it has been disturbed recently, you know this of course because you see many footprints imprinted in the snow: large, broad ones, medium sized skinny ones and a pair of tiny ones alongside the biggest. You follow this path, the smell in the air to good to resist. Soon you happen across a wood pile placed just off the path, there is an axe embedded in a cut log.

To be continued...

Poem I wrote... quick-unedited

2010-05-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

Man, like a tree
lifts up his urgent arms
to heaven
and, like a tree
his roots reach out to find and to explore
the deepest regions of the mind.
If, like a tree, a man
should shelter in his day
the other living things of earth:
if underneath his shade
the twigs of knowledge
and the leaves of joy
should come to birth:
then haply, like a tree,
a man may fall
and sleep within his roots
and, like a tree,
be known by his fruits.

Update: I will now be posting irregularly from my DSi XL.

2010-05-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

I will be posting writing segments to this blog via my DSi XL. The purpose is to make it a 'on-the-go' note taking system. Seeing as how this is meant to be a private thing, if anyone stumbles across this blog... comment to let me know. Cheers.

William Blake: From Innocence To Experience

2008-05-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

With his individual visions William Blake created new symbols and myths in the British literature. The purpose of his poetry was to wake up our imagination and to present the reality between a heavenly place and a dark hell. In his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience he manages to do this with simplicity. These two types of poetry were written in two different stages of his life, consequently there could be seen a move from his innocence towards experience.

But who is William Blake?
He was born on November 28, 1757 in London (at 28 Broad Street, Golden Square), to James Blake, a hosier, and his wife Catherine Wright Armitage Blake. He was educated by his mother at home, instead of formal school while his father encouraged his artistic talents. Blake said that he experienced visions of angels and ghostly monks. He claimed his 'first vision' came when he was about ten, while sauntering along in London, and saw a tree filled with angels. These visions had great influence on his literary and artistic development, too. At the same age he was sent to Mr Pars' drawing school where he copied plaster-casts of ancient sculptures. Later on, his father sent him to an engraver James Basire then he was sent to Westminster Abbey to make drawings of tombs and monuments. As a result he became not only a renowned poet, but a good print-seller as well.
Blake started combining poems with pictures. This way he managed to brake with the traditional rules of art and poetry, rejecting the values of the 18th century. Among his contemporaries were Wordsworth and Coleridge, all of them were interested in imagination and nature, and reflected these ideas throughout their poetry. They created the romantic era in English literature, by bringing something new in the face of (English) poetry.
While Wordsworth gave a supernatural charm to his daffodils, with the help of his vivid imagination, Coleridge removed the film of familiarity, and converted the supernatural into natural things. Blake, in order to protect his own visions, created new symbols and myths with the help of his poems.

One of the new things he brought, as I have already mentioned, is the bridge that he made between poetry and art. I think, he did it very well and extended, in a way, the reader's imagination. The reader can hear and see the poem at the same time. The picture created in our mind is transformed into a visual image. Here are, for example, the illustrations of Blake's well known poems "The Chimney Sweeper" from the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Eperience. We could observe the difference between the presentation of innocence and the one of experience.
The first volume of the Songs of Innocence was published in 1789, while the Songs of Experience in 1794. There is obviously, a period of 5 years between the two, a period, which is reflected in the included poems, as well. As, it is mentioned in the title, the Songs of Innocence are presented from a more innocent point of view, celebrating childhood and joy. The Songs of Experience introduces the reader in a deeper study of maturity, and deals with corruption and social injustice. The best example, that contrasts the differences between the two books, and these two points of view mentioned above, is his well-known poem, "The Chimney Sweeper".
"The Chimney Sweeper" is present in both of the Songs of Innocence and Experience. The subject of these poems is similar. Both of them emphasize the miserable life of the chimney sweeps in England at that time. Blake criticizes child labor and the society that allowed these little boys to do such a dangerous work. The rhythm of the poems is also the same producing the effect of children's song. Its rhyme scheme is aabb, abab. Another important similarity is that both of them are told from a child's point of view. Opposed to this, a major difference between the poems is that in the 'innocence' poem the child's view is more innocent, unaware of the dangers of such a job. The young chimney sweep, which seems to be more experienced in this business than his friends, tries to give an advice to the new chimneysweeper named Tom Dacre. Tom cries when his hair is shaved. The experienced little boy tries to teach him and make him familiar with this new job. He says: "Hush, Tom! Never mind it, for when your head's bore". He also explains, that this is part of the job, and will cause no harm, because if he is shaved "the soot cannot spoil" his "white hair." Later that very night Tom had a dream. He saw his friends, the other young chimneysweepers, locked up in a black coffin. Here the coffin could symbolize the chimney itself where the children have to slide in while doing their works. Then came an angel, who rescued all of them: "And by came an angel who had a bright key,/ And he open'd the coffins and set them all free." The angel, who came to save them, is the angel of death itself. The angel is setting them free because he is going to take the boys to heaven. The angel also says that if "he'd be a good boy/ He'd have God for his father," fact that is good for him, and makes him feel better. Later on, Blake extends this statement and writes: "if all do their duty they need not fear harm." As a consequence, we can feel the irony of this last line, according to which, there is no other escape from this job, than going to heaven, however the children do not know that they will die young because of a disease caused by this job.

The child, from the 'innocence' poem is unaware of the harsh story he tells. He does not feel its importance and the implications the story beholds. As opposed to this, in the 'experience' poem, the child is an older, mature boy. The whole poem has a different tone from "The Chimney Sweeper of the Songs of Innocence." The experienced boy has a desire for death, because he knows and experienced the dark side of the job. He blames his parents, for the whole situation in which he is.
There are two voices in this poem, the narrator's voice and the young boy's voice. The narrator is questioning the young boy. He says: "Where are thy father and mother? Say?" The chimneysweep answers that "they are both gone to the church to pray." Here we could feel that the boy puts the blame upon his parents and the whole society, who instead of taking care of his life and his health, went to church and abandoned him. The boy goes on, and continues to tell his complain. He claims: "they clothed me in the clothes of death, / And taught me to sing the notes of woe." We can feel the dark tone, created by sufferings of the child. The desire of the child for death grows deeper and deeper throughout the poem. He even starts to think about the idea of a suicide. He knows that suicide would be a sin, but he has no other clue escaping from the situation he was forced in.

In both of the poems Blake introduces the idea of church and God. Religion is also presented from different points of view along the poems. In the 'innocence' poem, the angel of death, is something heavenly. A divine help, that is above humankind and everything connected to society. In opposition with it, in the 'experience' poem religion is more artificial, is more a human institution. Because of this artificial feature of the church there could be an obstacle between the boy and God. This interpretation of the poem put the parents into a worse light because they turn blind eye through the suffering of the child searching for refugee among the fake priests and kings, instead of solving the bad situation of their own kid. The biggest problem occurs, when we find out that the child realizes what his parents are not capable to. They hide themselves between the walls of churches, rejecting the harsh reality.
Another two poems that reflect Blake's move from innocence to experience are "The Lamb" and "The Tyger". Both of the poems define childhood in order to create a contrast between the innocence of the youth and the experience of age. Blake uses The Lamb in the representation of the young purity. As opposed to The Lamb, The Tyger is represented as a higher, hard-featured creature.
The Lamb, consists of two stanzas, and could be divided into two parts. In the first part of the poem, the child is asking the lamb about his origin while the second part is a kind of answer provided from the same child. With his innocent voice the child says: "Little Lamb who made thee/ Dost thou know who made thee." He builds up a series of questions, also characterizes and praises the Lamb. He creates a bright and pure picture of it. There are images of the lamb that lifts this creature up into divine spheres: it has the clothing of delight, the softest wooly bright, and a tender voice. The closing lines of this stanza are the repetition of the first two lines, which tensifies the mood of the poem, emphasizing the unknown origin of the lamb. The second stanza starts with a kind of suggestion, a kind of hope concerning the creator of the lamb. The narrator talks as if he would know the answer for the child's questions: "Little lamb I'll tell thee,/ Little lamb I'll tell thee!" Blake then states that the lamb's creator is the lamb itself. In fact, this little mild creature could be no one than Jesus Christ, himself. As we go on reading the poem, Blake makes it clear that the poem's point of view is that of a child when he says "I a child and thou a lamb." It is a child's curiosity that raises the question in our minds, as well, about the creator of the lamb and about everything that is beautiful and divine. The poem ends with the blessing of the child, "Little lamb God bless thee," and the question remains unanswered.
The Lamb's total opposite is The Tyger. Instead of the innocent lamb we have now the frightening tiger. We could clearly sense the contrast between the innocence and the experience. The Tyger's experience is fearful as often reality is. William Blake's words have turned from heavenly to hellish in the transition from lamb to tiger. The narrator no longer asks questions about the origin of the lamb or the tiger, now he is questioning the possibility if he who made the innocent lamb was capable of making this devilish beast such as the tiger.
The poem consists of six, four line stanzas. It is a series of questions, almost each line ends with a question mark. Blake, through his visionary images, presents the tiger from tip to toe. He has immortal hand and eye, there is an awe-inspiring fire that burns in its eyes, he has huge shoulders, dread hand and feet. The reference to The Lamb is clearly presented in the penultimate stanza of the poem: "Did he smile his work to see?/ Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" Blake also reminds the reader that it is the same God that created both of them. This way, he again, contrasts the idea of 'innocence' and 'experience'.
Blake's tiger becomes a symbolic creature representing the presence of evil in the world. It is the kind of evil that is present in The Chimney Sweeper of the Songs of Experience, as well. The Lamb, such as the innocent child of The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence), is subordinated to a corrupt and decayed world.
Many of Blake's poems contain images of young children and depict children as innocent and naive. Blake sees the world through the eyes of a child, and he shows this throughout his poetry. With his collection of poems, the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, he managed to show two states of the human soul. Moreover, if we take a deeper look, we could feel and experience the progression between these two ways of existence.

Literature Discussion - Beowulf (and the Anglo Saxon Ideal)

2008-04-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

There are many pieces of literature that have been written down through the course of time. Many of these pieces were written in Europe, and depict epic quests and fantastic journeys. The earliest piece of European literature ever printed was a piece of Anglo Saxon poetry known as Beowulf. The Anglo Saxons were a Germanic tribe that had many values and ideas that their people lived by and kept sacred in their day to day lives. These values include; bravery, loyalty, generosity, and heroism. Beowulf, the main character in the poem Beowulf is the man who has all of these values, and is the epitome of the Anglo Saxon.
Beowulf is the image of bravery throughout the story Beowulf, and there are two examples from the story that depict his bravery best. The night Beowulf fights Grendel, before the actual fight Beowulf claims that he will fight Grendel without his sword or his armor, nothing but his bear hands against Grendel’s hell forged claws. In the end Beowulf prevails due to Grendel’s hide being impervious to swords, but Beowulf making the claim that he would willingly fight Grendel without a sword prior to the knowledge exhibits Beowulf’s bravery. Another example from the story that demonstrates Beowulf’s bravery is towards the end of the poem when Beowulf must face the dragon that is terrorizing his people. He knew going into the battle that he was getting old, and that this would most likely be the last battle he would ever fight. Beowulf did slay the dragon in the end, but his premonitions were true; Beowulf died from the venom in the dragon’s fang, and won his last battle. Beowulf knowing that he was going to die in this battle, yet still following through in his intent to fight clearly portrays his bravery.

Beowulf also displays his generosity and loyalty throughout the story. When Hrothgar gives treasures to Beowulf for defeating Grendel and Grendel’s mother, Beowulf generously distributes the riches around to all of his remaining men. This can be seen as generosity because none of his men did anything to help contribute to the annihilation of Grendel or Grendel’s mother. Another generous act of Beowulf’s was when the Geats were leaving Denmark he gave the guard watching the boat an ancient sword which immediately elevated the guard up to warrior status. When the Geats finally returned home Beowulf gave the remaining treasure to his king, Higlac. This demonstrates that Beowulf is generous enough not to keep the remaining treasure for himself, and that he is loyal to his king.
Beowulf being the main character of the story is also the hero. The definition of a hero is “A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” Beowulf is undoubtedly comprised of all of these qualities and clearly falls under the category of a hero. Beowulf has inimitable courage, and has incredible abilities that can be matched by no other man; such as immense strength and the ability to hold his breath underwater for hours on end. Beowulf is admired by all; his name is heard all around the world. His brave deeds such as the defeat of Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the fierce dragon all contribute to his fame and his heroic status. Selflessness is a quality that a hero must also possess; a hero must put the needs of the many before themselves. Beowulf shows his selflessness when he dies in battle fighting the dragon that was terrorizing his people.
Beowulf embodies the ideas and values of Anglo Saxon life. Beowulf displays bravery when he willingly goes to battle with demons and dragons. Generosity and loyalty are also revealed as some of Beowulf’s when he divides his riches among his men and pays homage to his king with the riches that were rewarded to him from Hrothgar for the defeat of Grendel. Beowulf also displays heroism when he puts himself in danger and fights for the good others, instead of for personal gain. These are the values Beowulf upholds, and are the values of Anglo Saxon life.

Psychology - Pro-Social Behaviour and the Factos that influence it

2008-04-21T04:04:00.000-07:00

What is pro-social behaviour? It is the voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals. This definition refers to the consequences of a person’s actions, motivations and their behaviour; behaviours which include a broad range of activities: sharing, comforting, rescuing, and helping.
But there are a many different factors that influence this behaviour, that affect one's decision to give, share, and help.
A lot of social psychological research focuses on anti-social behaviour. This essay will look at the other side of the coin and focus on pro-social behaviour, specifically helping behaviour and altruism. It will look at what causes people to help or not help and the phenomenon of altruism, the act of helping other for no discernable reward.

The factors that influence pro-social behaviour include cultural differences, personality variables, gender differences, the effects of religion and rural-urban differences. These factors fall under two categories; 1: equality, the equal treatment of people irrespective of social or cultural differences, and 2: reciprocity, a relation of mutual dependence or action or influence. These factors have their own bearing on pro-social behaviour and each influence it differently. Here we’ll have a look at some of these factors:
Cultural differences, in relation to pro-social behaviour, is expressed differently between individualistic and collectivistic societies: for instance; someone living in the U.S. is least likely to help someone in need than someone living in Australia, India or Kenya.
Personality Variables are personality differences that affect pro-social behaviours by way of the helper’s feelings and different concepts of morality and values, their motivations are based upon internalized standards of justice and responsibility and greater empathy, self-control, and integrity.
Subjects who help have been found to be more socially oriented and more internal than subjects who do not help.
Gender differences that effect pro-social behaviour is restricted to the helper’s gender, whether the helper is male or female. For instance, women have been found to experience a more vivid emotional response than men, perhaps this is because men have traditionally been trained to suppress emotional displays. From this, we might expect women to be more empathic.
Effects of religion is the influence religion might or might not have on those who are in a position to help someone in need. Such an influence can be attributed to individuals who may believe that helping others is a religious duty and that these people are more likely to volunteer help.
Rural/Urban differences or, location differences confer that where a person lives, either rural or urban; will have a bearing on whether or not a person will be helped. Research has shown that people living in urban environments are less likely to help than those in rural communities. This can be simplified as; someone living in a larger city or town might feel a diffusion of responsibility, feeling as though they do not ‘need’ to help nor do they have the responsibility to help.

All the factors stated share one interaction – they are all part of altruistic factors. Each factor is based upon altruistic motivations; where one feels empathy and a need to help others without any benefit to ones self, as opposed to motivation based upon heroism and want of rewards and other benefits to self.
The main interaction shared between these factors is the mood and beliefs of the individual in the position to help. The altruistic mood of a person can be greatly influenced by personality, gender and the location; and beliefs can be influenced by culture and religion.
Seeing someone in distress may cause us to feel distress, and we may act to relieve that person’s suffering simply as a way to reach the ultimate goal of relieving our own. It has also been shown that people are more likely to help the more empathy they feel for someone.
This factor of mood and belief binds all other factors (under Pro-social behaviour) together.

It seems that there are many factors and theories relating to the question of helping and altruism and why some people help while others stand by. For a person to offer assistance it would seem that certain situational determinants must be met. However mood research indicates that even if the situation is right for an individual to offer help but they have had, for example, an argument with their partner just before and are in a bad mood the chances are greatly reduced they will actually help.

References
Steve R. Howell – Introduction to Social Psychology – Chapter 9: Pro-social Behaviour
Nelson Psychology – VCE Units 1 & 2 – Chapter 2: Social Relationships – Altruism Pg. 83

A little bit’ o Poetry! – ‘5 Ways To Kill A Man’ by Edwin Brock

2008-03-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I might liven up the blog with a bit of poetry… I discovered this one the other day, and like all good poetry should do, it blew the top of my head off!
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‘5 Ways To Kill A Man’ by Edwin Brock
There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man.
You can make him carry a plank of wood
to the top of a hill and nail him to it. To do this
properly you require a crowd of people
wearing sandals, a cock that crows, a cloak
to dissect, a sponge, some vinegar and one
man to hammer the nails home.

Or you can take a length of steel,
shaped and chased in a traditional way,
and attempt to pierce the metal cage he wears.
But for this you need white horses,
English trees, men with bows and arrows,
at least two flags, a prince, and a
castle to hold your banquet in.

Dispensing with nobility, you may, if the wind
allows, blow gas at him. But then you need
a mile of mud sliced through with ditches,
not to mention black boots, bomb craters,
more mud, a plague of rats, a dozen songs
and some round hats made of steel.
In an age of aeroplanes, you may fly
miles above your victim and dispose of him by
pressing one small switch. All you then
require is an ocean to separate you, two
systems of government, a nation's scientists,
several factories, a psychopath and
land that no-one needs for several years.

These are, as I began, cumbersome wayst
o kill a man. Simpler, direct, and much more neat
is to see that he is living somewhere in the middle
of the twentieth century, and leave him there.
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In this poem, Five Ways to Kill a Man, the poet, Edwin Brock contrasts between the killings of humans at different time periods in the world. The first stanza tells of the executions in the times of Jesus. The second stanza tells of the times when knights used to duel on white horses. The German’s deadly chlorine gas attacks from World War I are described in the third stanza. The fourth stanza tells of the last part of the Second World War when the atomic bombs were dropped. Brock then, in his last stanza, tells of the last and easiest way to kill a man, and that is by placing the man in the 20th century. The five ways to kill a man that Brock describes in his poem are chronologically arranged. The most ancient way of killing was the most complicated and the latest was the easiest. The first verse reads, “There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man”, as the first is most cumbersome requiring “a plank of wood”, “a crowd of people wearing sandals…” And further, in the last stanza, he goes on to describe that killing is easy as pie (excuse the cliché), read the following lines; “Simpler, direct, and much more neat / is to see that he is living somewhere in the middle / of the twentieth century, and leave him there. This really is quite humorous isn’t it? The twentieth century has become a slaughter house, where one can hope to last a either a lengthy time, or even more so, hope for a swift existence, before one becomes just another meal for the ravages of time.
Can there be a sixth period? As we all know, time moves by in periods. After a certain period there will always appear a new one. What is important today, will be forgotten tomorrow. There is no such thing as the end of history, at least, not in art. We have had our modernist period. “But what is modern,” you could ask? It is not the end, it’s just a stage and after modernism there will be something called post-modernism. “Five ways to kill a man,” ends in our pre-modernist times, in the twentieth century. And again you could ask, “is that still modern?” Does a poem ever cease to exist? And, does it end there?

Feel free to email me, or use the comments to let me, and others, know what you think about this notion. I always appreciate different outlooks.

My email: sudsywolf@hotmail.com

My Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/sudsywolf

Philosophy - The Mind/Body Problem

2008-03-10T04:02:00.000-07:00

First of, what is the ‘Mind/Body problem’?The mind/body problem, in one of its aspects, concerns the relation between the two. Some people have thought that the mind and body are one and the same, the mind being just one aspect of the body and located in or identical to the brain. On the other hand, some consider that they must be separate, either wholly or significantly, with the mind not being equivalent to the brain.
Descartes is, perhaps, the philosopher that most people reference when discussing the mind-body problem. For Descartes, there are two substances: Mind and Matter. Each substance has a defining attribute. In the case of Mind, the defining attribute is Thought. In the case of Matter, the defining attribute is spatial Extension. It is important to note that for Descartes, substances can have nothing in common, otherwise they would not be fundamentally different things. The mind-body problem arises out of this view of substances, because if mind and body have nothing in common, then in what way can they be said to interact? This is known as the problem of interaction.

v Interactionism holds that the mind can influence the body and the body can influence the mind and it is in this way that they are united. Descartes was an interactionist.
v Epiphenomenalism is the view that mental activities are by-products of the physical. They therefore avoid the difficulty of how a non-physical thing could influence a physical one.
v The double aspect theory derives from the philosopher Spinoza and holds that there is only one substance and that the mind and the body are both aspects of it. It explains how the causes of our actions can be simultaneously mental and physical thus avoiding analysing the mental in terms of the physical or the physical in terms of the mental.
v Parallelism contends that the mind and body never influence one another, but nevertheless progress along parallel paths as though they interact. Leibniz maintained that God arranged things in advance so that our minds and bodies would be in harmony: the notion of “pre-established harmony”.
v Occasionalism is part of a wider theory of causation which holds that causes are joined to effects only in the sense that when a cause occurs God wills the effect to occur. So God causes our mental life and wills that it is in close correspondence with what is going on in the body.
Definitions taken from DECV Philosophy unit.

The mind/body problem to me reminds me of execution by guillotine, where the head is brutally but swiftly removed from the body. Can the mind live without the body and can the body function without the mind?
Descartes noted that if he cut off his foot, his mind did not seem to be affected. If we lopped off our heads instead, would we still have a mind?
Psychologically speaking… decapitation is obviously fatal, for brain-death occurs within seconds to minutes after disconnection, but is there still activity inside the mind? Research and investigation was done on this and turned up no solid conclusion to either support or refute the question. However, one report concluded that a dispatched head was able to respond by opening his eyes whenever the doctor mentioned his name; blinking and mouthing words. Now, since no solid evidence can support consciousness, it could simply be a reaction… but one thing is for sure, the brain may not actually expire for at least several seconds.
But conscious or not, a clean dispatch can trap air and blood, keeping the brain alive for a few seconds.
So, in conclusion, air and blood are needed to keep the brain/mind alive, therefore the brain needs the body as a life-support and the body needs the brain to master it movements and enable proper function.

Philosophically speaking… this would mean that ‘both’ the mind and the body are in fact dependant of each other and not separate entities of a subject. This is where I was able to refute Parallelism.

Epiphenomenalism in my opinion, is absurd; it is just plain obvious that our pains, our thoughts, and our feelings make a difference to our (evidently physical) behavior; it is impossible to believe that all our behavior could be just as it is even if there were no pains, thoughts, or feelings.

Even though the Double aspect theory does back up the theory that mind and body correspond, it does seem to leave the nature of this common substance undefined. Another problem I have with this theory, is that it implies that mind and body correspond entirely… even though Mind and Body are dependant, I do not believe that they are two attributes of the same substance. … for things seem to happen in the body that the mind is not aware of.
Can we really say whether there is always a corresponding mental process for every physical one?

Interactionism is my preferred theory, why? If mind and body are separate, how is it that they interact? Thinking in a negative way apparently influences the way we behave, while an experience in the world can change the way we think.
A pin-prick causes pain, and pain causes emotional response. You have physical pain… and you have emotional response to the pain. The pain and the emotional response interact with one another to create the same experience both physically and
mentally.

In short, the theory of Interactionism is probably the most solid, but followed closely by the Double Aspect theory

Philosophy of the Arts - Writing

2008-02-07T04:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Nobody,

As a writer I've observed an interesting process in the way stories, or poetry, come to be written down. I am sure my way of writing is not shared by the majority of authors and poets, however I find it interesting. Writing is the mind's conversations on page. Basically when I am writing on paper or typing on the computer I am essentially transferring the words that are inside of my mind to a place where they can be read by others, making them available instead of usual thoughts that are there then disappear. When writing I find I just write, that all conscious thought is gone and that I am vaguely aware of what I am writing, or what my mind is saying.

Poetry and writing are conveying images as well. Inside the mind of every writer are specific images, upon re-reading by others can be interpreted however the reader wishes, which is why I deplore television and prefer reading, having the freedom of creating images that appeal to me. Painting is similar to writing, except instead of words an artist will transfer images and thoughts into pictures. Music is like poetry, but with an extra bonus of having beats and sounds to inspire emotions, so not only conveying thoughts and images but emotions as well.

However, does this mean that a writer is allowed to say all he can, transcribe his thoughts onto paper with no absolute lack in power? Absolutely not! A writer, like any artist, is bound in some ways to the rules of expressiveness; like a painter who may have a stunningly beautiful picture in his mind, has only the space that a canvass will give.

As Nietzsche wrote: "When his book opens its mouth, the author must shut his."
A writer should never direct the hidden meaning behind any of his/her writing, just leave it to be reviewed, criticized, heckled or embraced. Art is in no need of truth other than as a mirage or hallucination. The images belong to the reader, of which the writer cannot seek to manipulate, he is not a puppeteer, and rather, the writer takes the position of a "dead god", a lifeless creator who contents with his own contentment and nothing else.

Cheers ;)

Pilot-

2008-01-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

There are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing but which are to extremely horrible for the purposes of legitimate writings. Yet, for the most wild yet homely narrative which I am about to pursue, I neither expect nor solicit harmony.
Like the title of this Blog, which reads; ‘Just A Little Bit Crazy’; this is a blog authored by a blogger who is undeterred in speaking perspectives, opinions and unafraid to speak the terrible the preposterous and the unspeakable.

I’m am sure you are all expecting a traditional introduction that encompasses the horribly inane likes and dislikes of the individual penning these words, I will not include such things. Rather, I encourage the use of the reader’s brains to conduct their own interpretation of me and my personality through these writings. The great philosopher Aristotle once said; “Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of introduction”.

Here is a blog which will bring the English language, philosophy, literature, history, art, psychology, religious contexts, social studies, media, politics and other horrible subjects into one journal.
To whom, then, must I dedicate my wonderful, surprising and interesting adventures? To whom dare I reveal my private opinions? My own hopes, fears, reflections and dislikes? Nobody!
To Nobody, then, will I write my journal! Since to Nobody can I be wholly unreserved—to Nobody can I reveal every thought, every wish of my heart, with the most unlimited confidence, the most unremitting sincerity to the end of my life!
And with that, I take my first leave with one word…
Cheers.